May 29, 2008

Pet Pulse Photo Illustration by Mike Lloyd

SILVER CITY, N.M. -- After two encounters last week with rabid foxes, the state’s Department of Game and Fish and its Department of Health are urging people in southwestern New Mexico to vaccinate their animals against rabies.

A woman was walking her dog in Silver City last Monday when a sick looking fox approached the dog and hissed at it. The fox was collected by a Game Department officer and tested positive for rabies.

The dog had been vaccinated for rabies.

A 19-year-old woman was attacked and bitten by a fox last Tuesday on the Catwalk National Scenic Trail near Glenwood. The fox ran away and could not be found. The woman said the fox had to be kicked off her pant leg after it jumped up and bit her.

The received rabies vaccine as a precaution.

There have been four foxes and one dog positive for rabies in Grant County so far this year.

“It’s really important to make sure your pet and your livestock are vaccinated against rabies,” Department of Health spokesperson Deborah Busemeyer told Pet Pulse. “If you protect your pets you can also protect yourself.

“We’re urging people to vaccinate their animals, because a lot of times it’s the pets who encounter the wild animals first. And if your pet isn’t vaccinated and is bitten by an animal that has rabies, that pet has to be euthanized.”

New Mexico typically has between 12 and 20 rabies cases annually, Dr. Paul Ettestad, the state’s public health veterinarian, told Pet Pulse. Already this year 13 cases have been reported, eight involving foxes, he says.

There were 15 rabies cases across the state last year and six cases in 2006.

Authorities say they are primarily concerned with rabies in the Silver City area, located in southwestern New Mexico. Grant County borders Arizona, where the rabies spread is originating, authorities say. Four foxes and one dog have been positive for rabies in the county this year, according to the Department of Health.

“We’re definitely seeing that more of the foxes in that area have rabies,” Busemeyer said. “Arizona has a strain of fox rabies that’s been in Arizona for decades. They’ve had cases near our border with New Mexico for several years.

“Most likely, I think probably the fox population’s a little higher this year than last year. And so there’s a little more interaction with the foxes. And so their fox rabies strain has spread into the far southwestern part of New Mexico.”

This year’s rabies cases have all affected people, not animals, Busemeyer says.

Located 44 miles northwest of Silver City, Gila National Wilderness attracts many tourists. Signs there have been posted warning visitors to avoid foxes. In general, residents are warned to avoid wild or dangerous animals.

Most of all, people are warned to keep from attracting foxes.

“We’re also talking to people in some of the cities there about not leaving their pet food out, not leaving water out, trying to make sure your garbage is in secure containers,” Busemeyer said.

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